Outsmarting Homophobia

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Outsmarting Homophobia

• Lynne Hillier
• Anne Mitchell

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Young people dealing with homophobia

• Young people themselves take on and are shaped
  and damaged by homophobic discourse
• They also resist, reject and recreate discourse
  so building their own resilience to homophobia
• We believe we can assist this process by
  providing them with more and better options for
  explaining their world

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How do you feel about being attracted to the same
sex?

• 1998 2005
• Great/Pretty good 60 76
• OK 30 19.3
• Pretty bad/Really bad 10 4.7

Please tell us more about your answer.
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Connection between feeling bad and self harm

• In comparison with those who felt good or
  great about their sexuality
• Young people who felt OK were 1.5 times more
  likely to self-harm
• Young people who felt bad or really bad were
  3 times more likely to self-harm

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How do you feel about your sexual feelings?

• Young people who felt bad used homophobic
  beliefs to explain why they felt bad.
• Young people who felt pretty good or great
  explained their feelings with reframed positive
  beliefs.

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How homophobia hurts and outsmarts young people
(Foucault, 1978)

• 1. It divides them off from their friends and
  community
• Just people calling me names and saying I was
  gross and a freak and calling me gay or dyke. And
  people have drawn or wrote sic things on pieces
  of paper and left them in my locker. And theres
  things written on toilet walls and rumors about
  me (Paula 14 years)

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How homophobia hurts and outsmarts young people
(Foucault, 1978)

• 2. It can create division within themselves
• I first thought I might be gay when I was in year
  11 and I was very distressed about possibly being
  a freak. (Paul 21 years)
• I would pray to God every night that he would
  cure me of this disease. (Myles 15 years)

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Homophobia outsmarts young people if they
wear the negative beliefs

• When people around me talk about how disgusting
  gay people are I do think I must be disgusting
  (Sara 21 years)
• I got a rude shock in my catholic high school
  when the teacher was talking about 'pooftas' one
  day and when I finally read the section in our
  bibles about homosexuality...after that I went
  hard core Christian and hated myself for a good
  few years. Spencer 20 years

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• www.latrobe.edu.au/ssay

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Turning around discourses

• When young people hear these responses what are
  they really hearing?
• What messages are they getting?
• What could you say in each of these cases to help
  turn it around for the young person?

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Turning around discourses

• Im glad you told me so now we can get you some
  help, you dont have to live your life this way
• Dont tell your father yet. Youre too young to
  know what you are going to be in life
• God loves you no matter what and He will help you
  turn away from this sin and come back to Him

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Young people outsmart homophobia if they refuse
to wear negative beliefs

• I am a proud, mentally healthy, strong young
  lesbian. Not confused, not disgusting, not going
  through a phase, not the result of a domineering
  mother. (Abbey 20 years)
• I see no sin in loving the same sex it is
  abeautiful thing. (Lara 16 years)

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The main negative belief areas in WTIA

• Homosexuality is
• A sin
• A mental illness
• Unnatural
• A phase in young people
• The path to a lonely miserable life

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Contents of the POSH booklet

• Introduction and metaphor of clothing
• Five sections, each based on a knowledge
  statement or belief
• How it affects young people
• Where this belief comes from
• How young people outsmart the belief
• Useful links
• General organisations and resources by state

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• The POSH booklet aims to spread positive beliefs
  and assumptions about same sex attraction so
  young people have healthier choices when they are
  working out what to believe about themselves.

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More about the outsmarting homophobia
projectatwww.latrobe.edu.au/ssay
This booklet was launched in Melbourne on May
29th 07by Bernie Geary Commissioner for
Child Safety.